Beadsman or Bedesman
. An inhabitant of an almshouse; so called because in Catholic times most charities of this class were instituted that the inmates might “pray for the soul of the founder.” (See Bead.)
“Seated with some grey beadsman.”
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Entry taken from
Dictionary of Phrase and Fable,
edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.